I’ve been having fun with these TV theme posts. So here’s another one. There have been a few shows that began with instrumental themes…and then added lyrics to them…or that started with theme songs and then later dropped the lyrics. Here are five examples:
Here Come the Brides
That Girl
Baretta
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
Buck Rogers
Pilot Theme
And the Mary Tyler Moore Show (first season vs. all the rest)
There were always lyrics to the theme…from the pilot onward. Those lyrics got tweaked, but the opening was never just an instrumental.
I can’t believe I never realized how much the first season season of That Girl with the lyrics sounds like it’s from a Sondheim musical.
The second season theme for “I DREAM OF JEANNIE” by Hugo Montenegro (used throughout the rest of the series) originally had lyrics written for it by Buddy Kaye. But it was decided NOT to use them during the opening or closing titles. But they WERE featured on the sheet music Colgems Music published in 1966…..and they’re pretty sappy. “Jeannie, fresh as a daisy/Just look how she obeys me…..”